New Delhi : The Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Surrogacy Regulation Bill, 2019, has recommended that the definition of a surrogate should not be restricted to close relatives alone and should be expanded to include any willing woman.
The original bill provides for a surrogate to be a close relative of the intending couple—a provision many stakeholders had called limiting.
The committee in its report tabled in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday made 15 major changes to the original draft law pending for consideration before the Rajya Sabha. Chairman of the 23-member committee Bhupender Yadav presented the report in the Rajya Sabha.
The other major changes recommended include allowing single women—widows and divorcees—to seek surrogacy instead of the originally proposed married Indian couples alone.
The panel says Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) be allowed to avail surrogacy in India and the condition that couples should have tried all other means to have a child for five years of marriage should be removed.
“Increase the insurance cover for the surrogate mother from 16 months proposed in the Bill to 36 months,” the panel has told the government about the bill which has been passed by the Lok Sabha but not the Rajya Sabha.
Noting that restricting the surrogate mother to be a ‘close relative’ potentially restricts the availability of surrogate mothers affecting the genuinely needy persons, the committee has recommended removal of this requirement from the Bill.
The committee recommended, “A willing woman shall act as surrogate mother and be permitted to undergo surrogacy procedures as per the provisions of this Act. (Agencies)
